Meet Kid Entrepreneur and Let's Help Kids Charity Founder

Learning Benefits

Hover over each Learning Benefit below for a detailed explanation.

Independent Thinking

Meet Rachel Harris, 10, founder of Let's Help Kids. After sorting her toys for donation, Rachel Harris, of Chantilly, VA, then just 6, asked her mom, Jen Sterling, “Why is it fair that I have so much when other kids don’t?” Soon after, Rachel’s teacher read Have You Filled a Bucket Today? about spreading kindness. That’s when it clicked. “I told my mom that I wanted to start a company to make kids happy,” Rachel says. So Sterling, a marketing expert, got busy helping her make it happen.

The Project: The mission of Let’s Help Kids (LHK) is to give children in struggling families the extras. Along with LHK’s board of directors (which includes Rachel’s parents), Rachel has raised more than $60,000. These funds have allowed LHK to give away 150 weeks of summer camp, 100 movie passes, and many toys. Other initiatives include getting 2,500 books to a school without a library and giving 150 Halloween costumes to children in shelters. Rachel is involved in everything from wrapping gifts to signing donor thank-you notes.

Best Memory: LHK’s first recipient was a sixth-grade jazz musician who really wanted his own upright bass. “He could use one in school but couldn’t take it home,” Rachel says. “My favorite part of working on LHK was seeing his smile when he got one.”

What’s Next: Rachel hopes to help launch new chapters: “That way, the bucket filling will go all the way around the world.” To donate, go to Letshelpkids.org.